Thursday, December 6, 2007

Helm strikes again


Congratulations to Woodstock's Levon Helm, who today received a Grammy nomination for "Dirt Farmer," his first studio recording in 25 years, in the Best Traditional Folk Album (Vocal or Instrumental) category.
The Grammy Awards, now in its 50th year, air Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. on Andy Rooney's CBS.

That category, by the way, is number 68, out of 110. We'll see if Helm makes the cut during the broadcast.

...

Congratulations also to perennial nominee and winner Jimmy Sturr (And His Orchestra), who received a nod for "Come Share The Wine" in the Best Polka Album (Vocal or Instrumental) category (number 76). The Orange County musician has been nominated 21 times and has won 16.

My favorite category this year is the Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Story Telling) because of the nominees:

* Maya Angelou for "Celebrations";

* Barack Obama for "The Audacity Of Hope" (the audacity to go against Angelou!);

* Bill Clinton for "Giving" (save your nasty jokes for later);

* Jimmy Carter for "Sunday Mornings In Plains"; and

* Alan Alda for "Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself" (like "politicians' self-serving books on tape shouldn't be in this category").

Check out the whole list of nominees and suffer with me.